Explanation:
Why isn't the star in the center of the nebula?
NGC 6369 appears to be a fairly ordinary
planetary nebula. It can be seen with a
good telescope in the constellation of
Ophiuchus. The gas expelled by the
central star is bunched in the
shape of a donut or cylinder.
During the
planetary nebula phase,
the central star sheds its
outer atmosphere as it is evolving to become a
white dwarf star. The
above image was taken with the
Hubble Space Telescope.
A closer look at NGC 6369 indicates that the
central star is closer to a dimmer edge
of the nebula than to the opposing brighter edge.